A mother and son have teamed up to provide dog owners with a place to have lunch alongside their furry friends.

Warwickshire’s first ever dog cafe has opened in Warwick after Tanya and Dan Pare found it difficult to stop off for a coffee while walking their dogs.

“We have three dogs and we always pop up to town to walk them. We have always noticed that if you want to go out for a coffee or a bite to eat, there are hardly any places that you can go in with your dog.

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“Initially it was an idea that popped into our heads but we did research it and noticed that there are other places around but as far as we know we’re the only one in Warwickshire.

“There are dog friendly places but they don’t offer a menu for dogs too, and in some of them you still get funny looks from people for bringing the dog in.”

Chiens et Café, in Smith Street, which has the slogan ‘where dogs can bring their owners’, opened last week and is already busy.

Doggies arrive at the Chien et Cafe in Warwick town centre, a new dog friendly cafe which serves all dogs and their owners. With Sandra Emms and ' Quade ' the golden retriever, aged 11

Dan said: “It’s been absolutely overwhelming, we have had so many people interested.

“There’s always people commenting on the Facebook page, we cannot believe how popular it has been.

“A lot of people come in and say we cannot find anywhere to have a coffee with the dog’ so we’re really glad we did it.”

The idea for the cafe only came to the pair around seven months ago and originally the plan was to open a boutique selling dog’s clothes and products, but the Pares combined the ideas and now it is a boutique and a coffee shop for dogs.

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While the pet owners tuck into lunches of sandwiches, paninis and toasties, their dogs won’t go hungry as the cafe offers both a humans menu and a hounds menu.

Dogs can chow down on shepherds pie or chilli and can even wash it down with ‘doggy beer.’

The cafe is open from Tuesday to Sunday and is run only by Dan and his mum. Tanya, 46, works in the cafe all week, and 20-year-old Dan who works in public health for the council, helps out in his lunch break and at weekends.

Dan added: “Throughout the week we have been busy but it’s been the weekends we have noticed it the most.

“We might look into employing staff in the future but at the moment me and mum are managing.”

Chiens et Café is open from 9am to 6pm on Tuesday to Friday, from 9am to 5.30pm on Saturdays and from 10am to 4.30pm on Sundays.